1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adapter apparatus to which a memory medium such as a memory card is attachable. The present invention also relates to a data transmission system, whereby a host apparatus reads data from and/or writes data into the memory medium via the adapter apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid advancements in the integration technology, it becomes common that hardware specifications of various types of information processing apparatus are drastically redesigned in a short time cycle. Particularly in the game industry, this tendency is pronounced and the advent of game console, which is provided with not only the execution capabilities of game application but also the capabilities of processing various kinds of application equivalent to those of common personal computers, is also expected. Such game console is expected to be used in a manner closely related to a user's daily life in various scenes.
There are many cases where a memory card that is an external storage device is used for storing data in an information processing apparatus such as a game console or personal computer. When a new type of the information processing apparatus is no longer equipped with a slot for a memory card, whereas the conventional type is equipped therewith, there is a demand for development of an adapter apparatus whereby the data in the memory card can be transferred to the new type of the information processing apparatus, so that the data saved in the conventional type can be utilized in the new type.
In a case where there are plural kinds of memory cards different in the protocol specification such as clock frequency, it is preferred that the information processing apparatus can read data from and/or write data into various memory cards. It is also preferred to perform the data transfer process efficiently in a short period of time.